Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-27
2004-08-10
Morris, Lesley D. (Department: 3611)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
C701S045000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06773029
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The invention lies in the motor vehicle technology field and relates, more specifically, to a device and a method for sensing an object or a person in an interior of a vehicle and a vehicle occupant protection apparatus in a vehicle with such a device.
Persons who are located in a position well forward in the direction of the dashboard, such as children in what are referred to as the reboard child seats on the front passenger seat, are exposed to the hazard that, while travelling in a motor vehicle provided with an airbag, they may be injured by the inflation impact of the airbag when there is an accident. Modern control systems for vehicle occupant protection means are aimed at switching off the airbag in certain situations or inflating it with a reduced force in order to avoid the risk of injury to a vehicle occupant. Preferably contactless optical sensors are used to determine the position of a vehicle occupant in the vehicle.
German published patent application DE 195 47 333 A1 discloses a device for sensing an object or a person in the interior of a vehicle. There, a sensor is provided for sensing an object or a person in the form of a thermal radiation sensor which is arranged in the headrest of the front passenger seat. A control unit for signal processing, which is connected to a control device for a vehicle occupant protection means, is arranged with the sensor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a method and a device for sensing an object or a person in the interior of a vehicle and vehicle occupant protection apparatus in a vehicle with such a device, which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices and methods of this general type and which allows checking the triggering behavior of a vehicle occupant protection apparatus in a vehicle after a triggering process.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a device for sensing an object or a person in an interior of a vehicle, comprising:
a sensor for sensing an object or a person in an interior of a vehicle;
a memory;
a control device for a vehicle occupant protection means, the control device outputting a control command; and
a control unit connected to the memory for storing data (sensor data or data derived therefrom) in the memory upon receiving a corresponding control command from the control device, the control unit causing an impact code received via an interface to be stored in the memory.
There is also provided, in accordance with the invention, a vehicle occupant protection apparatus, comprising:
a control device for a vehicle occupant protection device configured to output a control command;
an impact sensing device connected to the control device; and
a device for sensing an object or a person in the interior of a vehicle according to the above-outlined invention disposed spatially separate from and connected to the control device for receiving the control command output by the control device.
With the above and other objects in view there is also provided, in accordance with the invention, a method for sensing an object or a person in the interior of a vehicle, which comprises:
sensing with a sensor whether an object or a person is in the interior of the vehicle;
supplying sensor data to a control device, arranged spatially separate from the sensor, for a vehicle occupant protection means;
storing the sensor data in a device containing the sensor when there is a corresponding control command supplied to the device, wherein the sensor data are stored if the vehicle occupant protection means is to be triggered or is triggered.
The core of the invention resides in the fact that the device for sensing an object or a person in the interior of a vehicle, containing a sensor for sensing an object or a person, is constructed in such a way that, where necessary, it stores sensor data in an associated memory. Here, in particular the last of the sensor data which can be used as the basis for a decision for or against triggering of the associated vehicle occupant protection means are stored. In one advantageous development to the invention, it is also possible to store chronologically preceding sensor data in order to be able to follow the history of the position of an object or person.
The device itself has here an interface for connection to a control device for a vehicle occupant protection means. Via this interface, the device transmits, on the one hand, sensor data or evaluated sensor data and on the other hand receives a control command from the control device for the storage of sensor data.
The device for sensing an object or a person can be directed toward the hazard area in front of a folded-up airbag module in the inflation direction, and can thus communicate the presence of an object or a person in this area. However, sensing devices for objects or persons can also be applied which are directed toward the vehicle seat and can determine when a person is not in their normal sitting position. It is also possible to apply sensing devices which sense the entire front part of the interior of the vehicle and can detect any type of position of an object or of a person. The invention is therefore not restricted to specifically sensing an image of an object or of a person but is rather in particular also intended for monitoring specific areas in the interior of a vehicle for the presence of an object or of a person. The device is constructed here for contactless sensing.
A sensor of such a sensing device can be based on different physical operating principles:
For example, the sensor can preferably sense its operating area by means of optical radiation, in particular infrared radiation. However, radiation with other wavelengths can also be provided. The sensor contains a LED, in particular an infrared transmitter in the form of a laser diode which emits one or more beams or beam curtains. The sensor also contains one or more optical receiving elements in the form of photocells which receive the radiation which has been reflected or scattered at an object or a person. By evaluating the reflected radiation, the distance between the sensor and the object and, if appropriate, contouring and precise determination of positions in the two-dimensional or three-dimensional space can be carried out. Preferably, the sensor extends a plurality of beam curtains, arranged staggered one behind the other in the direction of travel, in the vertical plane and contains a plurality of receiving elements per beam curtain along the transverse axis of the vehicle. This ensures three-dimensional detection of persons or objects because each receiving element supplies an information item of two-dimensional significance and the third vertical dimension is acquired by evaluating the strength, the power or the energy content of reflected radiation. A sensing device with simple technical means has, for example, just one photoelectric barrier which senses the space wherein the airbag unfolds. The sensor of the sensing device can also be embodied as a video camera and supply images which are subjected to pattern recognition in the following method.
The sensor can, however, also be embodied as a thermal sensor in the form of an infrared pick-up which can determine the presence and the position of a living person by means of the thermal radiation which they give off.
In addition, ultrasonic sensors or microwave sensors can also be used.
Given active radiation of the object or the person, a position of an object or person is preferably determined using the methods of transit time measurement or triangulation.
The control device for the vehicle occupant protection means in itself is known sufficiently from the prior art. Such a control device contains a microprocessor for evaluating impact signals. These impact signals are supplied by an impact sensing device with an associated impact sensor system. Here, acceleration sensors or sensors which detect deformation of th
Hamperl Reinhard
Mader Gerhard
Rösl Reinhard
Roth Christoph
Stierle Thomas
Greenberg Laurence A.
Locher Ralph E.
Lum L.
Morris Lesley D.
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
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